Monday, May 21, 2012

Simple Rosemary Lemon Marinade and Grilled Chicken

Welcome to TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! We are so excited about summer and the thought of charcoal and barbeque grills, caramelized grill marks on meat, fruit and veggies!!! Our home has had lingering smells of barbeque in the air and an empty menu planner filled with nothing but possibilities! Until now. We have been developing and testing the most scrumptious recipes. We are going to be sharing some of our favorite grilling and summer treats in the coming weeks. We will be enjoying TSRI's Grilling Summer Celebration until June 18th when we will beginour one year anniversary celebration with another amazing giveaway.Make sure you keep checking back. This week you will find a fabulous regional burger. We will also feature a mouthwatering side that I cooked up to serve with the burger. Of course, what week at The Slow Roasted Italian would be complete without a cocktail to knock your socks off? Well no week of course! This weeks will be no different. Friday we will feature a summer pie that you will trip over yourself trying to lick your screen once you see it. But, today....

Today we bring you the family favorite. Not your usual grilled chicken. I am not kidding when I tell you that I have made this recipe 6 times already and have never been able to get a shot of it. By the time the chicken came off the grill we could not control ourselves. We would dive right in. This recipe is perfect just the way it is. With one possible and I mean possible change. Chad loves this marinade so much that would like me to double the recipe so he can have it as a dipping sauce too. Well, if that is a critique, bring it on. This recipe is a member of the clean plate club!!

Add rosemary, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to your food processor. I have a mini food processor that works great for this (ok it is a magic bullet and I love this thing for these little jobs). Process until smooth. Marinade makes approximately 1 cup.

Place chicken in a 1 gallon resealable bag,
add ¾ cup marinade and seal bag. Rub the chicken with the marinade to make sure it covering all the chicken. Place the chicken in the refrigerator overnight (I have made this recipe and marinated for as little as 30 minutes and as long as 2 days. Overnight is just perfect). Turn the chicken occasionally.

Prepare the barbecue for medium-high heat or preheat a grill pan
over medium-high heat (I personally like to use a table top grill). Remove chicken from the marinade. Discard the
marinade. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, about 8 minutes
per side. After turning the chicken, use the remaining 1/4 cup of marinade to baste the cooked chicken. Transfer the chicken to serving plates. Serve with a wedge of lemon. Enjoy!

This sounds amazing! I've made roasted chicken before with a lemon garlic rosemary rub (not processed though) and it was delicious so I can't wait to try this on grilled chicken -- think I'll use chicken thighs!

i am doing this now with bone in split breasts and thighs and have the bag in fridge overnight..question 4u about baking temp to avoid drying out ... suggestions?? i will serve with pumpkin mash and risotto

I made this three times and each time it was wonderful. This last time I didn't realize I was a lemon short until I started cooking so I did half and half lemon and orange juice and zest and it was (dare I say?) even better. Both fruits were easily noticeable and the oranges even made the chicken a little less tart. Not sure which way I'll make it next time 🙊

Made this 4 times already and each time it was amazing. This last time I made it with half orange zest/juice because I didn't realize I didn't have enough lemons until after I started cooking. I'm not sure which way I like better! The lemon is delicous but the orange makes it just a little less sour. Both fruit flavors are easily distinguishable and neither one is overpowering.